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Biomedical subjects

W E Lucas

Publications and source records attributed to W E Lucas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Preoperative whole pelvic external irradiation in stage I endometrial cancer.

Between 1966 and 1978, 201 patients with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium were treated at two hospitals in San Diego. Of these patients, 161 had disease limited to the corpus at the time of diagnosis. The majority of these patients received external whole-pelvic irradiation, followed as soon as possible by simple extrafascial hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. When this treatment method was used, actuarial survivals of 95% for Stage I disease were achieved. Also reported is the low incidence of wound complications in the group of patients operated soon after cessation of irradiation. The patients treated in this fashion had good survival rates, little morbidity from the adjunctive irradiation, and fewer wound complications than previously anticipated.

Adenocarcinoma↗

A study of endocrine and metabolic variables in postmenopausal women with endometrial carcinoma.

Although an underlying endocrine-metabolic disorder has been implicated as causally related to the development of endometrial carcinoma, data to support such an association are ambiguous and/or contradictory. In this prospective study of 16 consecutive nonobese postmenopausal women with endometrial carcinoma and 16 cancer-free postmenopausal women matched for age and weight, fasting values for growth hormone (GH), insulin, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estrone (E1), and estradiol (E2) were measured on 3 consecutive days. Intravenous glucose tolerance, pituitary GH release in response to arginine infusion, hyperglycemia, and hypoglycemia, and insulin secretion in response to arginine infusion and to hyperglycemia were analyzed. Our data show that these endocrine-metabolic profiles were not significantly different between the cancer patients and control subjects, suggesting that the postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer who is not obese exhibits no accountable endocrine or metabolic disorders.

Adenocarcinoma↗

The effects of prenatal diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure on the genitalia of pubertal Macaca mulatta. I. Female offspring.

Nineteen pregnant female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) received 1 mg/day diethylstilbestrol (DES) over three time periods during gestation: day 21 to delivery (group I), day 100 to delivery (group II) and day 130 to delivery (group III). Seven females and five males of a total of 20 offspring are presently alive at 5 1/2 years of age; one female died at 5 years of age. No deaths have been shown to be treatment related. In female offspring, menstruation began at about 2 1/2 years of age, was irregular for approximately one and one-half to two years and then became regular. Vaginal ridging and/or cervical hooding have been observed in seven of the eight DES-exposed females, and three had histologically demonstrable vaginal adenosis. None of the anomalies was related to a specific treatment period, for they appeared in all treatment groups, nor did they occur in the age-matched controls. Furthermore, none of the animals, either treated or control, showed any evidence of adenocarcinoma. Therefore, exposure of Macaca mulatta females to DES in utero appears to be teratogenic, but thus far no carcinogenicity has been observed. Reports in humans indicate that adenocarcinoma is an additional manifestation of prenatal exposure to DES; also, treatment effects appear to be more commonly observed in individuals exposed during the early stages of gestation. From this viewpoint, the rhesus monkey is a potentially valuable model for the study of vaginocervical anomalies and adenosis, but it is premature to consider it a suitable model for the study of adenocarcinoma.

Animals↗

Laparoscopy in the evaluation of gynecologic cancer.

Laparoscopy was used to evaluate 60 patients with a variety of known or suspected gynecologic neoplasms. Diagnostic laparoscopy was performed on 18 patients to confirm benign or malignant pelvic masses or to confirm peritoneal carcinomatosis. Ten of these 18 patients (56%) were found to have unresectable carcinomatosis or benign disease which did not require further surgery. Staging laparoscopy was performed on 13 patients of which 3 had clinically unsuspected intraperitoneal spread of their disease. Surveillance laparoscopy was performed on 29 patients to determine the remission, regression, or progression of their disease following treatment; 8 (27%) had progressive or unresectable persistent disease. Despite the fact that the study comprised a high-risk group of previously operated on or irradiated patients, there was only one major complication. There was, however, a 10% incidence of laparoscopic failure from inadequate visualization. Twenty-one of the study patients (35%) were spared a laparotomy by the use of laparoscopy. The findings of this investigation help to identify those gynecologic oncology patients who should benefit most from the use of laparoscopy as an adjunct to the diagnosis, staging, or surveillance of intraabdominal malignant tumors.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

The role of fibrin formation in the pathogenesis of bacteremic shock in the primate.

In this study, an attempt was made to elucidate further the role of intravascular fibrin formation in the pathogenesis of sepsis in the primate. It was found that injected live Escherichia coli caused death in primates within four to 11 hours as a result of microcirculatory failure and acidosis. Pretreatment with Arvin did not prolong the survival rate, probably because of an overloading of the reticuloendothelial system with fibrin degradation products. This study does not support an obligatory role for intravascular coagulation or fibrin formation in primate sepsis and coincides with an earlier report (6) from this laboratory on cats. Vascular damage and malfunction, secondary to mediators released by platelets, leukocytes, red cells or Hageman factor, are not ruled out.

Ancrod↗

Serum 17 beta-estradiol and estrone levels in postmenopausal women with and without endometrial cancer.

Serum 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) levels were measured before and 6-8 weeks after ovariectomy in 16 postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer, and in 10 postmenopausal women with normal endometrium (preovariectomy only). For E2, no significant difference in the mean baseline (+/-SE) level was found between the tumor (13.5 +/- 1.1 pg/ml) and non-tumor patients (11.7 +/- 1.4 pg/ml). For the same patients, the mean baseline E1 levels of 33.8 +/- 2.4 pg/ml and 28.5 +/- 4.7 pg/ml were also not significantly different. The mean body weight of the tumor patients (141.1 +/- 7.3 lbs.) was similar to the mean weight of the non-tumor subjects (137.5 +/- 6.3 lbs.). This was of importance since both E2 and E1 levels correlated significantly with body weight and excess fat in these postmenopausal women. The circulating estrogen levels did not correlate significantly with the patients' height, age, or years of menopause. In the patients with endometrial cancer the mean E2 (14.1 +/- 1.7 pg/ml) and E1 (39.5 +/- 7.3 pg/ml) levels after ovariectomy were not significantly different from the preoperative concentrations. These data are consistent with the concept that in postmenopausal women most, if not all, circulating estrogen is produced by peripheral conversion of androgens and that this conversion is influenced by obesity. Circulating estrogen levels are not significantly different in postmenopausal patients with endometrial cancer compared with women of a similar age and weight who do not have the tumor.

Adenocarcinoma↗